Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Stress & Changes Your Brain

Posted by Mike Storm on Mar 31, 2016

Wanna Reduce Stress?

So it's been a while since I wrote, my apologies. I've been busy putting the finishing touches on some mindfulness practices of our own. Our new daily journals and adult coloring books! Very exciting - check them out =>HERE

On to today's article....and it's a good one from Sara Lazar, who is a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist.

More and more research, and evidence, comes in daily that points to mindfulness meditation improving multiple areas of the brain.

Lazar: We found differences in brain volume after eight weeks in five different regions in the brains of the two groups. In the group that learned meditation, we found thickening in four regions:

1. The primary difference, we found in the posterior cingulate, which is involved in mind wandering, and self relevance.

2. The left hippocampus, which assists in learning, cognition, memory and emotional regulation.

3. The temporo parietal junction, or TPJ, which is associated with perspective taking, empathy and compassion.

4. An area of the brain stem called the Pons, where a lot of regulatory neurotransmitters are produced.

The amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain which is important for anxiety, fear and stress in general. That area got smaller in the group that went through the mindfulness-based stress reduction program.

The change in the amygdala was also correlated to a reduction in stress levels.

Isn't that reason alone to go and meditate today?

Again, you can check out Sara's video clip above and the whole article from theWashington Post. It's also got some links to the studies and more about the findings.